commission in the independent
Kenya, “during colonial era, there was no
such thing as a nation” only several nations living side by side in the same
territory. Education, like society, was
stratified along racial lines, there existed an ‘African
education’, a ‘European
Education’, and an ‘Asian
Education’; three separate systems divided
by rigid boundaries (Ominde 1964). This stratification was based on the
colonialist’s assertion that the mental development of the average African
adult was equivalent to that of the average 7-8 year old European boy (Gachathi,
1976). African education’ therefore tended
to be a hybrid, precariously hovering between a European model with a
European subject matter, and an education
deemed suitable to the place in colonial life considered ‘appropriate’ to
the African population (Ominde 1964).

Thus
the eve of independence brought with it
sweeping reforms in the educational

system. With the creation of
a single nation came the emergence of a single educational system, no longer
stratified along racial lines. Ominde Commission was formed
to introduce changes that would reflect the nation's sovereignty. The
commission focused on identity and unity, which were critical issues at the
time. Changes in the subject content of history and geography were made to
reflect national cohesion. Between 1964 and 1985, the 7-4-2-3-system was
adopted, seven years of primary, four years of lower secondary (form 1 -4),
two years of upper secondary (form 5-6), and three years of university. This
does not include the 'pre-primary' schooling provided to children under the
age of six. The principle preoccupation for Ominde’s report was introduce an
education system that promoted national unity and
inculcated in the learners the desire to serve their nation (Simuyu, 2001).

7-4-2-3
system of education lacked the capacity and flexibility to respond to the
changing aspirations of individual Kenyans and the labour market needs, in
terms of new skills, new technologies and the attitude to work (Owino,
1997).

According to
Simuyu (2001), the 7-4-2-3 policy was criticized in two major areas (2001):

i)The policy was being too academic and therefore not suitable for
direct employment. Thus the policy lacked orientation to employment.

ii)The policy encouraged elitist and individualistic attitudes among
school leavers, something that was considered incompatible to the African
socialist milieu.

The Gachathi
Report (GoK, 1976, p 33-34) raised the issue of unemployment in relation to
7-4-2-3 policy: The report maintained that “One of the largest problems
confronting the country is that of unemployment. The problem is aggravated
by the annual outputs of school leavers whose number continue to swell
following the enormous expansion of the education.

Among those
who made calls for change of educational policy were, the Kenya National

Therefore,
education, which was regarded by Kenyans as a medium for social mobility and
national economic development failed to deliver as the number of unemployed
school leavers continued to grow system in the first years of independence.
ILO also called for a change to the education system in order to help reduce
unemployment. The change consisted of increasing the technical and
vocational aspects of the curriculum. The move by ILO towards
vocationalising the education system won support from the World Bank.

The 8-4-4
system of education was introduced in January 1985, following the Mackay
report of 1982. King and McGrath (2002) claims that the 8-4-4 policy arose
out of the concerns that a basic academic education might lack the necessary
content to promote widespread sustainable (self) employment”. Therefore the
8-4-4 policy emanated from the assumption that it would equip pupils with
employable skills thereby enabling school dropouts at all levels to be
either self-employed or secure employment in the informal sector. King
&McGrath, 2002 observes that the new policy would orient youths towards
self-employment. The system strongly emphasizes attitudinal and skills
preparations for the world of work and especially self-employment.

According to Sifuna (1990), there are
three events that led to implementation of the 8-4-4 system: the 1966
conference on education at Kericho in Kenya, which stressed the need for
integrating rural development; the International Labor Organization mission
report entitled "Employment, Incomes and Equality: A Strategy for Increasing
Productive Employment of 1972;" and the recommendation of the National
Committee on Educational Objectives and Policies of 1975. In 1979 the
Ministry of Education was changed to the Ministry of Basic Education with an
introductory nine-year basic education system program. The rationale was
that the previous program was too short and not rigorous enough to give
graduates enough practical education. It also recommended that the first six
years of primary were to concentrate on numeric and literacy skills and the
last two years on basic education with practical orientation. This
represented a shift from a focus on enrollment to restructuring the program
as a means to cater to the influx of unemployed.

3.2 The structure of 8-4-4 System

The 8-4-4 System is divided into
primary, secondary and university excluding the pre-school years. This
sections gives a brief description of the structure.

a) Primary Education

It starts at age of six years
and consists of eight years of schooling, out of which first three may be in
the mother tongue, while English is invariably the language of instruction
from standards 4 to 8. Most schools are public and run on the basis of
harambee system, but the number of private schools, though small as yet, is
rising very fast. Most schools are co-ed though a few only-girls schools
also exist. The primary education ends with an exam for Kenya Certificate of
primary education. Enrolment levels in primary education are reasonable by
third world standards - partly a result of the making it free.

b) Secondary School

Secondary school consists of
four years. Majority of secondary schools are run on the Harambee system.
About one fourth are Government schools, but only the most meritorious are
able to enter them. The private schools charge high fees and many offer
British O-levels, followed by A-levels or the International Baccalaureate.
The enrolment in secondary school is far less compared to the primary
school, as it is not free, though some plans to do that are being prepared.

c) University and College
Education

Since the establishment of
University of Nairobi in 1970, the first public University in Kenya, seven
more general public Universities and an estimated number of 17 private
Universities have been introduced, most of them run by religious
organizations. Only about 2% of children actually reach the Universities.
One of the reasons is the outflow of students belonging to the higher
socioeconomic strata, who often prefer foreign Universities.

However, although the 8-4-4 policy has
been described a major educational reform in the

history of Kenya’s education system
since independence in 1963, there are views that it is

a great devastation. For instance,
Amutabi (2003, p.136) notes that:

The 8-4-4 system of education
introduced in 1985 still remain the most radical

and perhaps mindless change in the
education in Kenya since independence. It

has already caused great devastation to
Kenya that even if it were changed today,

the toll on the nation will be felt for
many years to come. Its devastation is

similar to that of the failed Ujamaa in
Tanzania many years after it was

officially scrapped.

The 8-4-4 system has been the subject
of national debate since its inception. It has been criticized for being
broad, expensive and burdensome to pupils and parents”. The new education
policy has also been implicated in the worst strikes that engulfed a number
of schools in Kenya during the year 2001 and the general poor quality of
education (Amutabi, 2003).

Since its
inception, 8-4-4 system has been changed to be more accommodative. Several
commission have been formed with the view of improving the system: The
Wanjigi Report (GoK, 1983); The Kamunge Report (GoK, 1985), The Mungai
Report (GoK, 1995); The Ndegwa Report (GoK, 1991) and The Koech Report (GoK,
1999). A majority of these reports were either rejected or partially
implemented. For instance (Muya, 2000): The Kamunge Report (GoK, 1985) on
Education and training which recommended the reduction of examination
subjects under the 8-4-4, was implemented in secondary schools but ignored
at the primary schools level; The president (Moi) rejected the Koech Report.

Those
commissions’ reports, that were implemented, made profound contributions to
certain aspects of the education system in Kenya, for instance, the Gachathi
and Mackay Reports contributed to the change of education policy from
7-4-2-3 to 8-4-4. The

Gathachi
report noted with great concern the rising rate of unemployment among school
leavers and recommended the restructuring of the education system curriculum
in order to have more streams of science, mathematics and, technical and
vocational subjects

(Republic of
Kenya, 1976). The Mackay Report influenced the extension of primary
education from seven to eight years and thus influenced the restructuring of
the education system from 7-4-2-3 to 8-4-4 and hence the introduction of
technical and vocational i.e.

practical
subjects in primary schools. They both commission reports emphasized the
integration of technical and vocational education in the entire Kenyan
educational system right from primary to tertiary levels (Simiyu, 2001).